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Tragus Piercing

Tragus piercing.

What is a tragus piercing anyway?

Before we get into tragus piercing we need to know what is the tragus? According to Wikipedia “The tragus is a small pointed eminence of the external ear, situated in front of the concha.” It was apparently named after the greek word for goat because of the tufts of hair that can grow from this part of the ear that look similar to a goat’s beard.

The early days of tragus piercing in Ireland.

I think it was 1994 when I first came across tragus piercings. This was the dark ages of body piercing in Ireland with very little information available and the internet in its infancy. I didn’t even know what the piercing was called (even now it is often called a “targus” piercing) but I wanted one. Unfortunately, with this lack of knowledge, tragus piercings (and many others) were being done with ear piercing guns, leaving many people with scars.

The proper way to do a tragus piercing.

By 2000 I was a professional body piercer and people were becoming aware that body piercings should never be done with a gun. Here at Wildcat we always use a needle and do the tragus piercing by hand.

Jewellery choice.

The tragus piercing is a very popular piercing with a wide range of jewellery to pierce with and even wider once healed. I always strongly suggest that a bar rather than a ring is chosen for the healing time as it moves less and when the ring flips up, it changes the shape of the piercing upsetting it. I use surgical grade titanium which is an unreactive metal and can be coloured through anodisation which does not disrupt its properties. Once healed, most people are fine with surgical steel.

Tragus Piercing – Does it hurt?

This is the question nearly every client asks and I say that it will hurt a bit, but I will do it fast to keep the “suffering” to a minimum. 99% of people will smile immediately after and say that it did not hurt as much as they expected. That said, a bit of fear is a healthy thing to get your body ready beforehand. If you breeze in thinking “This isn’t going to hurt at all,” then your expectation is too low to live down to. Regardless, the pain is temporary, the piercing is forever.

Aftercare for your Tragus Piercing.

Tragus piercings tend to get itchy during the healing. Letting warm water run over it in the shower will help and dissolve any build up. After, spray a little Easy Piercing saline solution on a cotton bud, gently clean and dry. Use the saline 2 or 3 times a day for the first 2 weeks, then once or twice till healed. Avoid sleeping on it and keep hair products out of it. Females (and the occasional male) will need to keep makeup from straying into it. That’s it! Clean it and keep the hell away from it. Always refer back to Wildcat if there are any questions.